Iowa
Iowa State Basketball Won’t Be Impacted by NCAA Player Eligibility Requirements
The Iowa State Cyclones had to undergo some major changes with their men’s basketball roster this offseason.
Four key rotation players from their incredible 2025-26 team, Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson, Milan Momcilovic and Nate Heise, won’t be back with the team. However, the Cyclones were able to successfully fill those voids on the roster with five players in the transfer portal and three players in their Class of 2026.
Other programs that have spent the offseason upgrading their rosters may not be as fortunate. The new NCAA eligibility requirements could significantly alter the outlook of many teams across the country, with a particular focus on international players.
After virtually everyone was granted eligibility to play in the 2025-26 season, rule changes came down in May that will impact several programs. Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated named a few players who may no longer be eligible to participate in the 2026-27 season: Quinn Ellis (St. John’s Red Storm), Saliou Niang (LSU Tigers), Márcio Santos (LSU Tigers) and Mantas Rubštavičius (Auburn Tigers).
NCAA eligiblity rules will have major impact on men’s college basketball
Some Iowa State fans will see that and wonder how this could impact players on their team. Head coach T.J. Otzelberger has done a great job with international recruiting in recent years, unearthing gems such as Killyan Toure and Dominykas Pleta in the Class of 2026.
In the Class of 2026, one of Toure’s former teammates, big man Dorian Rinaldo-Komlan, committed to the Cyclones.
Luckily for Iowa State, none of those players are going to be impacted by the new eligibility rules and should maintain their ability to suit up for the Cyclones during the 2026-27 campaign.
Toure played high school basketball at Brewster Academy before coming to Ames. Rinaldo-Komlan is currently with SPIRE Academy. Pleta played in the Porsche Ludwigsburg, which has a professional-level team, but he was with the academy team, which is the equivalent of high school basketball.
Cyclones won’t be impacted by eligibility rule changes
While the rules about international players are constantly changing, all of the players who have come from overseas who are with Iowa State should remain eligible. The focus of the new rules is on players who have professional experience internationally and are older prospects.
That isn’t an area of recruiting that Otzelberger has had to turn to during his tenure with the Cyclones, and thankfully so. He has excelled in finding high school players and anyone in the transfer portal who fit into the game plan they are looking to execute with a focus on defensive intensity.
Iowa State can proceed as they have been, knowing they won’t be losing any players to eligibility concerns because of international professional experience.
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